Substitute House Bill No. 5257
Public Act No. 15-150
AN ACT REQUIRING NOTICE OF ABUSE REPORTS CONCERNING RESIDENTS OF LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (d) of section 17a-412 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):
(d) Such report or complaint shall not be deemed a public record, and shall not be subject to the provisions of section 1-210. Information derived from such reports or complaints for which reasonable grounds are determined to exist after investigation as provided for in section 17a-413, including the identity of the long-term care facility, the number of complaints received, the number of complaints substantiated and the types of complaints, may be disclosed by the Commissioner of Social Services, except that in no case shall the name of the resident or the complainant be revealed, unless such person specifically requests such disclosure or unless a judicial proceeding results from such report or complaint. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or section 17b-452, not later than twenty-four hours, or as soon as possible, after receiving a report pursuant to subsection (a) of this section concerning a resident of a long-term care facility, the commissioner shall notify such resident's guardian or conservator, if any, or legally liable relative or other responsible party. Such notification shall not be required when such guardian, conservator, legally liable relative or other responsible party is suspected of perpetrating the abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment that is the subject of the report. The commissioner shall obtain the contact information for such guardian, conservator, legally liable relative or other responsible party from the long-term care facility.